Company values ​​for employees. Six mistakes in creating corporate values

Nordstrae & Ridderstrale identify three driving forces of modernity: changes in technology, organization and values. These forces act on each other, society, companies, people. Although the funky professoriate favors technology, I selected from the book those authors' conclusions about values ​​that seemed important to me. So:
Values ​​influence what we do (because they influence what we think). Values ​​are incredibly strong, omnipresent and undergo significant changes from person to person and from region to region. On their basis, alliances are created and conflicts occur.
Values ​​were previously formed around structures and clear expectations. Now they have become something variable.
Who challenges conventional hierarchies and power holders? New world is created by the actions of people who no longer agree to do what they are told to do, to be what they are told to do, or to live where they are told to live. People armed with new values ​​and technologies!

1. Can a company that employs people who preach different values ​​prosper?
The picture described reflects the situation in most companies. Several years ago, I visited a successful software company in Boulder that was owned by our fellow countrymen. There were three buildings on the territory. One is the front office, the second is management, the third is working for programmers. The first two were Americans, the third - Russian. Americans were strictly prohibited from visiting the programmers' place of work. Why? Not only did the latter work in free schedule and few of them knew English, and the interior decoration of the building was very different from those where the Americans worked. Outwardly, one could estimate that chaos reigned in it: the kitchen and hallway were littered with all sorts of rubbish, there was a ping-pong table at the entrance, the workplaces were tables with piles of papers...
Bill Gates, realizing that people different cultures people of other cultures are poorly perceived, I did a simple thing. He separated different services so that they did not overlap in their work, and between them he placed “membranes” - people with an unexpressed culture who do not care whether you work in the middle of the night with your feet on the table and sip beer, or you go to work from 9 under 18 in a prim jacket. The result is his company, which can invent new products, polish programs, sell them, and manage all processes. And at the same time, don’t waste your nerves on the fact that in another department they work differently from yours...

Company values: if you are the boss

2. Is defining the core features of your corporate culture really an ambitious goal? Does ambition depend on the size of the company (IBS has 1,500 employees) or is it determined by something else?
3. How many key values ​​can (should) a company have? What determines their number?
4. What models are used to develop the values ​​of your companies?
Usually, without bothering with such reflections, the key question from the mouth of the main one may sound something like this:
- What words in the list of values ​​will work for our image?
- Ambitiousness?
- Okay, let's write down ambition. What else?
- Innovation is in fashion today.
- Okay, the innovation is recorded. What else? Let's also write down how much we value our customers...
- Customer focus.
- Okay, customer focus is written down. What else?
So, the words written in this way are not the company’s values, and the task of defining them certainly does not look ambitious.
Corporate culture can be both a strategic resource and a significant obstacle to the development of a company, so the answer to the first part of the question is obvious to me - this is an ambitious goal. If we remember that there is significant difference between corporate culture and organizational culture, then assessing the extent to which management’s ideas about the organization diverge or coincide with the staff’s ideas about the same organization, removes many symptoms of organizational problems, and reduces the degree of uncertainty in the management of the organization. And the size of the company has nothing to do with it.
But in large organizations, even if expanded, the programmatic set of values ​​is unlikely to be truly universal for the entire organization. And the larger the physical size of the company, the more varied this list will be for different professional and hierarchical groups. For the sake of the company's success, we must learn the art of combining professionalism and soul. But it is necessary to strive for uniformity in the perception of key values ​​as an ideal. The main thing is that this desire does not “devour” resources and does not turn into an end in itself. In pursuit of unity of values, you can build a sect or a small corporate GULAG.
Number of valuables in each specific case will depend on the ideas of a particular person and the ability of specific individuals to agree on this list among themselves. It is simply necessary to do this, because... Key procedures are formed under this set of values, in particular, the attraction, selection, placement and career of personnel.

What values ​​lead to success today?

The slogan of successful companies is “do it, fix it, try it.” Most importantly, these companies have an energy that comes from strong convictions.
Steve Farber, president of Extreme Leadership, spoke about the values ​​that do not work for the company: “I think their problem is with pronouns. For some reason, they avoid the pronoun “I”. But most people perceive this faceless “we” as “other people”. Re-read your corporate code, replacing “we” with “I”. Well, do you feel guilty?”
I am impressed by the values ​​of great companies, I support S. Farber and I believe that the success of the company in which I work now will lead to adherence to the following Values ​​and Principles:
1. Essentially, we are a service company.
i. Sales to the mass market have always been the company's strength. We just need to use our existing knowledge to create products tailored to the needs of our Clients. And sell them.
ii. We don’t measure ourselves against anyone – it’s just us and the market. The market is at the core of what we do. What happens outside the company is much more important than what happens inside. Companies tend to think too much about their own perception of the areas of the business they should be in and how they should operate. In fact, our focus should be on providing services to Clients. Success in a company comes mainly from its success with Clients, and nothing else. Therefore, consumers are the only reason for the company's existence, and our main indicator of success is Customer satisfaction and revenue growth.
2. I am attentive to the needs of Employees.
i. I am confident that in the conditions of a tough struggle for the consumer, when the level of technical equipment, marketing and lobbying is leveling out, leadership in the market is ensured by talented Personnel. Having talented Employees is a competitive advantage for our business.
ii. I want our Employees to have opportunities to grow. I declare that people are the main asset. We plan appropriate expenses for people, including their training. Not doing this means deceiving people. By providing opportunities for growth, I practice the principle of “Grow or Leave.”
iii. I will continually strive to improve work environment, providing the best and most comfortable working conditions. This will allow us to work in a supportive and creative atmosphere.
iv. I take honest and open actions and keep my promises. I recognize and encourage everyone’s contribution.
3. Teamwork.
i. On the diagram organizational structure companies are usually shown as a hierarchy. We can think about hierarchical structure companies. But hierarchical behavior is unacceptable in our company! In everyday life, what matters to me is a person’s participation in the team, not his position! Working as a team, I strive to be a professional who can develop and contribute to achieving the goals of our company. All decisions are made in the light of the fact that they are correct for the company as a whole in the long term, and not in this moment. Teamwork The best way put an end to bureaucracy and internecine wars.
ii. A top manager in a company is not a dictator in the form of a lonely hero accepting right decisions, and "aggregator" various points view that seeks to get to know maximum number the points of view of their employees. I am convinced that “the many are smarter than the few.”
iii. For a good mood in the team, I will generate successful events, and not just keep everyone within the limits.
4. Tolerance.
Many company cultures discourage asking difficult questions. I'm open to them. Anyone can ask questions without fear of being punished. I am always ready to start a dialogue that will lead to a mutually beneficial solution.
5. Search for something new.
i. In our daily work, I constantly search for new solutions, encouraging it and aiming to improve reliability and efficiency. I strive to make creative problem solving a daily reality to ensure high quality products and services.
ii. I understand how useful it is to get ideas from other cultures. Taking them into service, I the best way I use this diversity for organizational purposes.
6. I think and act extremely quickly.
i. Speed ​​and quick response are also the key to future success for us. I try to respond to ideas faster than ever before and offer new products to Clients. Planning and analysis should not be detrimental to speed of execution.
ii. I strive to achieve our tactical and strategic goals with tenacity and enthusiasm, always keeping in mind the success we want to achieve together.
7. Perfection.
Excellence in everything we do. I recognize that the key to success is excellence in all areas of our work. Therefore, I must make every effort to create, maintain and enhance our competitive advantage.
I have heard more than once from opponents that the above principles are very similar to the standards of the company for which they work; that in many ways things are quite declarative; that it will be difficult to implement such principles in practice, and even more difficult to find people who will live by these principles in companies...
Otherwise! Ideal pictures of society were drawn by the French utopians. On the other hand, disbelief in the principles of the company is a “defeatist” mood.
How to be?
Personally, I am for principles! It is imperative to declare the principles by which Employees should “live” in the company, then record what is wrong in the organization, and correct it, gradually approaching the ideal.
Being a realist, I understand that it is possible not to achieve the ideal 100% during the implementation period of a commercial project. However, strive to change the world I will be for the better. By hitting the bumps along the way, in any new project I will have fewer problems achieving the ideal.
It's important to note this from Jim Collins (Built to Last: The Success of Companies with Vision), who offers an important caveat:
“There is no “correct” value system. No matter what values ​​you choose, there will always be a successful company that is based on completely different principles. To be great, a company doesn't have to have passion for customers (Sony doesn't), or respect for individuality (Disney doesn't), or quality (Wal-Mart doesn't), or social responsibility (Ford doesn't). Core values ​​are essential, but it doesn't seem to matter what those values ​​are. The point is not what value system you have, but whether you have it, whether you know it, whether you build your activities based on it, whether you maintain it over time.”
And at the same time, it is worth remembering that it is not the circumstances that determine who you become, but your choice in certain conditions speaks volumes about what values ​​you profess.

Company values: employee view

5. Who should play the role of commissar in organizations while there is no single clearly expressed state ideology in society? Yes, it is not in our country today, but this does not mean that companies do not have “soul”. Every organization has a “soul”.
6. Do you know what value you create for the company, and what value you want to create for yourself by collaborating with the company?
7. Do you know what value your employees create for themselves?
8. So what values ​​do we, managers, declare to our employees today? Do they allow them to feel natural at work?
You believe that your company has a soul, and the questions asked above did not cause you any difficulty in answering. Amazing! Then a security question.
9. How many of your employees will go to work if you don't pay them?
Unfortunately, for most managers these are complex issues or tasks whose solution is not relevant. But, fortunately, not for everyone. As an example, I will quote the words of Stuart Lawson, Chairman of the Board of Soyuz Bank:
“Today, young people in business are more focused on what a particular position can give them. As I told my nephew who works for a multinational corporation: make sure you don't move too fast and forget everything you've learned and your previous experiences. In the end, we are what we have learned, and not the amount we last put in our pocket. On my wall is my job offer from 1975, which says my salary will be £2,700 a year. It hangs to remind me of one thing. Never work for money. Because money comes for success, it does not come for things less significant.
My advice: first of all, decide whether this job is interesting to me, whether it motivates me for further growth, whether it is good enough for me, or whether I can find something better. You are what is in your experience, you are what you have achieved.”
A wonderful example of uncompromising adherence to your values.
K. Bocharsky answered his own question this way:
“I think about it all the time too. There are a lot of possible answers, but almost always they can be “decomposed” into components, or they are rather a means – an intermediate authority – to achieve something else. But I want to get to the roots.
Today it seems to me that this is:
a) stupid grandmas. It looks like this - increasing the capitalization of yourself as an asset, and then monetizing it in one form or another;
b) loop feedback, in which good circulates, i.e. some call it “creation”, some “bringing benefit”, some self-realization, some social significance, someone - following their civic position, etc. By and large, the point is that the majority also want to increase the “assets” of their soul. For example, me too.
Moreover, in Lately I'm especially excited about this. Well, that is, when the world in your head is divided into justice and injustice, truth and lies, sense and nonsense, it is completely clear which side you should be on. And if this condition is not met, then it most often turns out that there is no point in fulfilling step 1.
Somehow like this..."
As for me personally, I want to be a participant in success for the appropriate monetary reward. I want to create, create, promote new things, raise existing things to new heights. I would like to contribute to achieving tangible, concrete results.
Many of us grew up from a place where the COUNTRY sounded proud and we truly glorified it with our work. And since organization is a way of life for society, in this sense I work for the country.
When I was a job seeker, most employer representatives focused on what I had achieved in the past, with little or no interest in what I would like to achieve in the future. On the other hand, most of the applicants I interviewed were eager to show how successful they had been in the past, when I wanted to hear how successful they would be while working for us. This is one of the main reasons why I don't like the interview as a tool for assessing a potential employee.

Eduard Kolotukhin

The company’s values ​​are a set of standards, norms, criteria and beliefs that influence behavior. Of course, they are the core of the company’s value; they become the glue that unites employees of various ranks and departments, creates a unity of views and actions and allows the organization to achieve its goals. To do this, they must be divided, cultivated and declared by the management of the company and its most authoritative employees. The company's values, which are held by the majority of the company's employees, determine the set of criteria by which they form a judgment about any employee as an individual.

In an organization they play the same role as morality in society; they enable it to exist and develop. In this regard, it is true that a company where the company’s values ​​are defined only formally, in long term will become unviable. In order for an employee to be sincerely imbued with values, they must correspond to his own social aspirations, moral standards, and understanding of personal direction of development.

Each employee takes his own personal position in the general set of values, which changes over time in the process of interaction between people. It should be understood that not all company values, even those accepted by a person, can ultimately become his personal ones. Recognizing value and treating it positively is not always enough for it to become a personal norm and rule. But despite this, the company’s management must carry out systematic work to form, communicate and explain the organization’s values, and involve employees in activities related to their implementation.

As a rule, the company values, examples of which are given below, are things that most people understand. Something complex and ambiguous may not be accepted or understood. If you look at the ethical codes of large well-known corporations that take this issue seriously, you will often find such concepts as responsibility, self-criticism, honesty and openness, friendly attitude towards employees and clients, and determination.

It is very important to understand that any established organization has its own values, regardless of whether its top management is involved in their formation or not. Therefore, in order for them to correspond to strategic ones, this work must be done, but at the same time, established informal norms, rules, criteria, and traditions must be taken into account. One of the optimal ways in this work may be to establish certain frameworks for existing informal systems, their gentle correction in the right direction, without revolutionary upheavals, prohibitions and repressive actions. This work should be preceded by a deep analysis of the existing informal work with the involvement of specialists, and the desired result should be moved gradually, covering all levels of the organization.

Irina Polyakova, Director of Corporate Marketing Department at 3M Russia:

Any large international corporation faces the task of preserving the core core of values ​​around which the company’s activities are built in different parts of the world. globe, in different markets, that is, in completely different conditions. Corporate values ​​are what unites the organization into a single whole and serves as the “face” of the company for clients, partners, and the media. And, of course, the main conveyor of these values ​​should be the company’s employees. If employees do not understand or do not share the goals and values ​​of the corporation, then the level of trust in such a company will not be high.

The international corporation 3M, which has existed for more than 100 years, has developed its own corporate culture, the basic principles of which are the same in any division of the company (from headquarters in the USA to the smallest representative offices in developing countries). How is this achieved?

All corporate values ​​can be divided into 2 groups:

1. let's call them " mandatory"(what every employee must follow) and,

2. " incentives"(what the company strives for, the development of which it supports).

TO " compulsory» values ​​include company rules and policies that are publicly declared and binding. At 3M, this is, for example, the Code of Business Ethics. The Company states that all of its business activities in any country are conducted in accordance with the laws and internal corporate policies (which are often more stringent than required by law), and all employees follow business rules. Accordingly, corporate values ​​of this level are communicated to each new employee at the very beginning of his work. All new hires undergo what is known as New Employee Orientation, where over the course of two to three days they learn about the current operations of the company, its goals and values, history, and also learn mandatory policies and procedures. Also, each employee is required to take electronic courses on business ethics and business rules, based on the results of which he answers the test questions and receives a confirming certificate.

If there is a need to refresh your memory, then the Intranet (internal information site of the company) contains all the information about the mission, company values, key brands and slogans, as well as links to all the basic policies and procedures that need to be applied in work .

The company's mission, goals, and core values ​​are also described in various corporate materials, for example, in corporate presentations, which sales and marketing specialists use as the basis for their presentations to clients and partners.

In any business, consistency is important, so any general communications, employee meetings, etc. are suitable as reasons for “reminding” corporate values. For example, we have a Marketing Forum, where all the company’s marketers gather once every 2 months. And my role as a marketing director is to periodically refresh the employees’ memory of corporate goals, values, brand vision, etc. at such meetings, tying them to current topics for discussion.

As for the second group of values, the so-called. " incentives", then this could include things like

that is, those values ​​whose adherence cannot be prescribed in the form of procedures and restrictions. These values ​​are closely related to the concept of employee involvement in a common cause, when people not only follow the rules written in the documents, but also share common ideas, voluntarily support any common activity, be it holding a cleanup day on the company’s territory, planting trees , collecting waste paper, donating or helping disabled children.

To “implement” these corporate values, we cooperate with the HR department and conduct various programs and events. For example, “Family Day” or “Company Day”, when a holiday with a “near-corporate” theme is organized for employees and members of their families, so that children can better know where their fathers and mothers work, and the employees themselves can get to know each other better and communicate with a friend, learned something new about those who work next to them. The events feature competitions with prizes, for example, for the best artistic composition from 3M materials, or for the most futuristic new product, or for knowledge of the history of the company and its inventions...

Our company actively supports charitable activities and volunteering. For example, a parallel contribution system has been announced - when an employee’s charitable donation is doubled at the expense of the company. Employees can take the initiative themselves and propose some kind of social action or object for charitable assistance. And, in my opinion, if corporate social responsibility is included in the list of the company’s core values, then this is an ideal option for uniting the team and conveying corporate values ​​to employees. After all, it is important for almost every person to be needed, to feel involved in something good and right. And if your work gives you the opportunity not only to earn money, but also to make this world a little better, then this ensures loyalty and commitment to corporate values ​​no worse than any social package.

Ilya Sternin, managing partner of the consulting company Incorpore:

Corporate values ​​are one of the important elements strategic management and indicate the ways a company chooses to achieve its goals. On the other hand, values ​​underlie corporate ideology and serve as the basis for the formation of corporate identity. Only a company with a strong ideology can create in an employee a high level of commitment to the organization in which he works.

In order to convey corporate values ​​to each employee, they must first be understood, verbalize. In large organizations, values ​​should be formulated in some kind of strategic document (Corporate Code, Company Philosophy, Mission Statement, etc.). IN small companies specific statements of values ​​may sometimes reside only in the head of its leader.

If values ​​are realized, then the second task is to convey. Moreover, they must be conveyed not only meaningfully (so that the employee knows about them), but also psychologically (so that the employee accepts these values ​​and adheres to them in his behavioral models).

The main work on transmitting values ​​is carried out indirectly - by coordinating the stated values ​​with corporate practices. In other words, all procedures (work models, training, communication, etc.) must be consistent with the values.

For example, the value of “Openness” should be conveyed both by adequate methods of obtaining information and by the availability of the company’s top officials for communication. Also, values ​​must be supported by the behavioral models of company leaders. Otherwise, their rapid discredit is inevitable.

Finally, the way to convey values ​​is through their live broadcast. At the same time, communication here occurs at the personal level, so it is advisable to broadcast the message on two levels - content and emotional. Therefore, communication based on values ​​should be built using visuals (pictures, illustrations, symbols) or other equally expressive methods of conveying information (for example, parables, metaphors, aphorisms, etc.).

An effective way to convey emotional meanings is through live speech itself. Therefore, building interactive communication with company leaders is essential to communicating values.

Yulia Gubanova, Head of the Human Resources Department of the Representative Office in Russia and the CIS of BBK Electronics Corp., LTD.:

General corporate values- this is what creates trust and unites the organization into a single whole. Shared values ​​are also the “face” of a company, by which it is recognized in all areas of its activities. They can be formulated both as corporate goals and as individual values. Successful values-driven organizations know that employees who do not understand the importance of values ​​will not work hard to achieve them. Values ​​must not only be formulated in the organization, but a policy must also be implemented to establish the priority of values. Until those activities that contribute to the overall corporate objectives are listed, those activities will not be considered a priority. To do this you need:

1) Provide reward employees who care about corporate values. Whatever the incentive (bonus, additional income or something else), if an employee is diligent and adheres to corporate values, then this should always be celebrated.

2) Show example. If an employee does not see anyone other than himself who follows corporate values, then he will not support them.

Vera Ignatkina, career consultant and job search coach at Job Search Coach:

We all studied, let's remember in which lesson - lecture or seminar - more significant learning of the material took place? I am sure that the majority will answer - “at the seminar.” The seminar is a practical lesson in which students, through trial and error, develop own business plans, economic models, solve problems, etc. This technique (that is, practical orientation) should be used in business. Involving employees in discussions and working together will be more beneficial in the long run than when management decisions are “top-down.” Therefore, in my opinion, before talking about communicating corporate values ​​to every employee, it is necessary to develop the principles themselves. I propose the following technique for creating corporate values ​​and goals:

It is very good if the discussion is recorded on a tape recorder; sometimes it happens that in “heated” disputes something important is missed.

It is advisable to involve no more than 20-25 people to discuss the principles at this stage. If the company is large, then you can invite 1-2 people from each working group (see Step 1).

Unfortunately, at this step in many companies, activities to work with corporate values ​​end. The most that managers of some companies can do is post the received document on the Intranet and notify employees about it. In this case, we can say with 100% confidence that all the work (Step 1-Step 4) was done in vain. To get the desired effect, company management must encourage employees to be guided by accepted principles in their work, in relationships with clients, partners, and each other. To do this, in my opinion, it is necessary:

The core values ​​and life plans of company employees can be realized to a large extent through increased efficiency, growth and business development.

Therefore, the prospects for our business are the prospects for each of us.

To the extent that the Company is successful, to the extent that employees’ qualifications, incomes, careers, satisfaction with their work and the atmosphere in the team will increase. In other words, the interests of our people are directly related to the goals of the Company.

Below is an example of the values ​​of a real commercial company.

1. Structure of the Company’s values

The development of the Company’s divisions is based on two groups of company-wide values:

1. Basic, orientation towards which ensures the required level of efficiency of the company;
2. Higher, orientation towards which gives the company the energy of breakthrough, advance, and leadership in the market.

Each group includes values ​​- one leading (highlighted) and supporting ones.

Core values:

• Controllability
• Achievability
• Teamwork
• Pace (value of time)

Highest values:

• Proactivity
• Innovation
• Clientele
• Competitiveness

2. Core values ​​of the Company

Controllability

– timely achievement of set goals, consistency of goals and actions of employees.

• The Company's goals and priorities are communicated to each department in relation to the specifics of its position.
• All managers and employees are assessed on their specific contribution to the Company's performance.
• Fewer tasks - more rules. This means that more orders and instructions must be replaced by streamlining business processes, functions, goals, evaluation criteria, etc.
• Do not give tasks, encourage or punish an employee over the head of his immediate supervisor.
• As the goals and operating conditions of the Company change, the functions and motivation of employees change.
• When setting a task, the manager has the right to expect that deadlines will be met upon first presentation. No reminders. No intermediate control. In the event of unforeseen circumstances affecting the deadline for completing a task, the employee must immediately notify the manager and, if necessary, other participants in the business process.
• An employee who provokes step-by-step control over himself is considered costly.

Achievability

– ensuring real results, increasing efficiency in every workplace.

• We report on results, not activities.
• We evaluate and reward not so much for experience, but for achievements.
• The definition of each employee function specifies criteria for assessing its performance.
• The right to make a mistake: a mistake is not a disaster, but an experience. We learn from every mistake.
• We don't repeat mistakes.

Teamwork

– consistency of goals and actions of employees in a friendly atmosphere.

Motto: We are all each other’s clients here.

• Interchangeability: if someone is absent, the others take over his functions.
• The relationship between the leader and the subordinate is not based on the “Parent – ​​Child” principle, but on the “Adult – Adult” principle.
• If you have information that is interesting to another employee, pass it on to him immediately.
• Do not shift what is your responsibility to someone else.
• We do not refuse to help others.
• We overcome disagreements without conflicts.
• If you make a mistake, we’ll figure it out; if you cheat, we’ll separate.
• In our country, rewards significantly prevail over punishments.
• The principle of mutual responsibility for damage caused operates between the company and its employees.
• We hire employees not so much for a position, but for a company. If a specific position is not suitable for a valuable employee, we will find him a worthy place in the Company.
• The manager plans both the official and extra-official careers of his subordinates.
• Don’t scare our “black sheep” (we accept non-standard judgments constructively).
• We criticize not a person, but actions.
• Each of us is a “giraffe” in some way (we expect and recognize the individual superiority of each in some respect).
• Mutual obligation of everyone and in everything.
• Instead of “You misunderstood me,” say “I didn’t say it clearly.”

Pace (value of time)

– speed of implementation of necessary changes, saving your own and everyone’s time.

Motto: We are stingy with time - non-renewable
and always a scarce resource.

• Deadlines are met without reminders. An employee who has to be reminded about deadlines is considered too costly.
• There are no tasks without deadlines.
• We understand the assigned dates, hours, minutes literally and not approximately. Failure to comply with them is a blow to prestige.
• The implementation of large-scale work is staged in time with the corresponding dates.
• We set priorities according to urgency.
• Lost time has a monetary equivalent and can be assessed as specific damage to the business.
• Pace should not come at the expense of quality.
• We compare and synchronize the pace of development of the market, Company, division, employee.

3. The highest values ​​of the Company

Proactivity

– proactive influence on the market, the ability to stop undesirable trends and accelerate desirable ones. Don't follow demand - stay ahead of it.

• The most important sign of a leader’s qualifications is the ability to foresee. It is assessed.
• Best = proactive.
• Periodically evaluate yourself from the future. What are we going to laugh about today? What will we regret not doing today?
• Each creative employee has a personal VISION (image of the desired future in the Company).
• The most important criterion for selecting new employees is proactive inclinations.

Innovation

– openness and readiness to change, success of innovations.

Motto: There is nothing that cannot be improved.

• We regularly replenish the Company's innovation bank.
• Promising innovations are implemented through the mechanism of temporary task forces.
• We encourage new ideas.
• Every idea has an author.
• By accepting an employee’s innovative proposal, the Company assumes the risks of its implementation.
• Innovativeness is a sign of a creative employee and an evaluation criterion.

Clientele

– ability to expand and develop priority customer groups.

• All sales departments have criteria for prioritizing their customers.
• All larger number We turn priority clients into our supporters.
• The loss of a priority client is an extraordinary event that is specifically investigated.
• We carry out certification of priority clients.
• The departure of an employee does not mean the loss of a client.
• Do not tell the client “no”, but offer options.
• If an employee caused a loss to the Company, we will sort it out, but if he caused damage to the Company’s reputation, we will not forgive.

Competitiveness

– ability to create competitive advantages in customer, supplier and labor markets.

Motto: Respect, know and outperform your competitor.

• The Company's divisions regularly compare with competitors.
• Sales and procurement departments and personnel departments constantly evaluate the focus of competition in the customer, supplier and labor markets, respectively.
• These divisions are regularly assessed for the creation and development of competitive advantages.
• Once a quarter we collectively answer the questions: - in what and why are we lagging behind the strongest? — which of our competitors is now a beacon for us and in what ways?

Compliance with this Code is mandatory for all Company employees. Evaluation of an employee’s performance also includes compliance with the values ​​and rules mentioned here.

This text of the Company’s Ideology and Code is subject to periodic updating and development.

Case based on materials from A.I. Prigozhin prepared

It is difficult to find something more abstract and ambiguous than the concept of “corporate value”. Values ​​are talked about in the context of company management, and in the context of marketing, and in the context of branding. And the concept of “corporate value” really relates to all of these areas.

When applied to management, value provides guidance for employees and even influences the company's business strategy. In marketing, value is often the main factor that differentiates a company from its competitors. The value of the organization is no less important in branding, because in all its communications the company must embody a certain selected value (or values) in order to form a certain image. But the importance and at the same time diversity of the concept gives rise to serious problem: when different specialists and different areas of activity are involved, big picture is eroded to the point of loss of meaning, which is what happened with the concept of “company value”. We have come across organizations where a list of corporate values ​​was posted in all offices, but this had no impact either on the company’s position in the market or on the situation within it. In this article we will try to bring everything to a common denominator, simplify the principles and show how to find and use this corporate value (or values).

Corporate value - why?

Nowadays, no one is surprised by the terms “mission” and “vision”. These concepts have long been included in the vocabulary of managers who are trying to apply them (with to varying degrees success). Of course, a modern self-respecting company without strategic goals defined by mission and vision looks rather strange, if not ridiculous. Mission and vision determine the company's competitive advantages (marketing component), its image in the minds of various consumers and society as a whole (branding component) and approach to personnel management (motivational component) both in the current and strategic perspective.

There is a certain skepticism about mission and vision, including among leaders themselves, who consider these terms to be “consulting stuff.” The reasons for such skepticism are largely understandable: the proclamation of a mission and vision does not guarantee at least some approximation to their real implementation. What's slowing you down? Poor elaboration of the concept that determines how it is planned to organize all forces and resources to implement the Mission and Vision. And here, the main tool is seen to be corporate value (or values) due to its unifying, motivating and guiding role. If the values ​​are not embedded in the employee’s consciousness, he will not be guided by them, that is, he will not work as needed, which means that all proclamations will be empty. Values ​​are a tool that allows you to interpret the company's mission and vision in a way that is understandable to performers or other people. And, accordingly, adequate values, correctly introduced into the company, make it possible to create conditions for achieving its strategic goals. Value “translates” strategic goals into a language understandable to performers.

• Value or values ​​tell the market how the company differs from its competitors, what its key advantage is. For example: “We have the most complete package of services” or “We have the fastest service.” Accordingly, the company's efforts must be directed toward achieving and maintaining this position.
• The value or values ​​should dictate to employees (at a minimum, give them a general understanding) how to work - quickly or meticulously. This leads to the company’s motivational policy towards personnel, which determines such key issues as “what to punish for” and “what to reward for.”
• The value or values ​​embodied in images and symbols show the market what the company and its employees represent in their work. Corporate branding is not an empty decoration using corporate identity, and the formation of the desired image, and value should determine the creation of such an image using various communication means.

Thus, the company’s values ​​become a tool for management to implement strategic goals. Having defined the mission and vision, it is necessary to immediately identify the values ​​that will be implemented in the company and will allow the implementation of the assigned tasks. However, probably no one will argue with this. Difficulties begin when we try to move from theory to practice, from talking about the company’s values ​​to their definition and real implementation.

Running in all directions

Try searching for information about a company's values ​​and you'll be overwhelmed by the number of links a search engine will return. There will be the company’s value systems, value management, and so on and so forth. However, try to find an adequate definition of the company’s values, and you will be disappointed: you won’t find even the semblance of a unified vision. What is the basis of all this word-creation about values? Based on some vague ideas of the authors, no more. However, in management they generally like to operate in abstract terms - you can easily gain fame as a guru with all the ensuing consequences. However, if we talk about efficiency, then examples real help All this value-laden verbiage can be found with difficulty, if at all. The authors of management treatises on values ​​seem to live in some kind of fictional world and certainly do not know what they are doing. We hope that the reader, having mastered the ideas of this article, will agree with us.

Both management and marketing with branding in this case are directly related to a number of aspects of managing society in a micro- or macro-format. Therefore, the most correct thing is to take the definition of values ​​​​adopted in social psychology. According to D.A. Leontiev, the concept of “personal value” implies three forms of existence. The first is social ideals , general ideas about perfection, what is proper and correct in relation to various aspects of life, existing in the group. The second form is the substantive embodiment of social ideals in activities specific people. The third form is the motivational structures of the individual (individual models of what is due, perfect, correct), encouraging him to follow ideals in his behavior. These three forms, due to interweaving and mutual influence, lead to the preservation or destruction of each other.

Simply put, for a person to work well, firstly, in his group there must be a clear understanding of what it means to work well, and that working well is right. Secondly, this vision needs to be clearly translated into reality, whether through clear instructions or relevant role models. Then a person will accept this value, such a social standard as an individual one and will himself be guided by it in his activities (constantly checking with this value as a social ideal and the objects in which it is embodied).

A similar situation arises when we are not talking about a group of company employees (in the context of management), but about a group of potential and real consumers(representatives of other companies, market participants). This group also has its own set of ideas about what it means to work correctly; they have objective embodiments before their eyes (companies that work correctly or incorrectly - in their opinion). IN real actions(for example, choosing a partner) they are also motivated by these ideas about what should be and which companies correspond to these ideas (“black” and “gray” work schemes we will exclude from consideration as they do not correspond to business ethics).

A thinking management practitioner, having read the previous paragraph, should immediately see how important values ​​are and how difficult it is to form them. We need a system of internal propaganda, a system of employee motivation (both material and non-material), a system of feedback and control, and a system of external communication. In the end, it is necessary to change even the approach to the work of the company as such - so that such a seemingly simple and understandable phrase as “meet deadlines” is learned and becomes a standard for employees. Even a single change in the company's operating principles requires a huge amount of effort to implement. And now you can look at the reasoning of various “gurus”. As a rule, entire systems of values ​​appear there, or at least a set of several values. Of course, it is impossible to competently and successfully (!) introduce several concepts into a group at the same time - the group, be it employees or clients, simply will not learn this. In order for certain statements to become real personal values ​​that define certain aspects of behavior (work), they must be consistent, clear, unambiguous, constantly promoted and encouraged. For some reason, neither managers nor consultants understand such a basic thing, so attempts are constantly being made to introduce mutually exclusive values ​​(for example, speed of work and its quality). Alas, this always remains just a shake of the air: several values ​​are not assimilated, social reality is not changed by appeals alone.

Thus, the company’s values ​​have become empty ringing, meaningless chatter, behind which only the puffed up cheeks of the clever “gurus” are visible. However, all this beautiful nonsense can still be seen on company websites and in the offices of individual bosses: “Our values ​​are friendliness, quality, efficiency, respect for the client and the high competence of our employees.” But to introduce even one concept into the consciousness of employees and representatives of other companies, a very difficult and lengthy program at the level of strategy and tactics is required. What is being done? Perhaps they printed signs with values, posted them on the website, the personnel officer periodically tries to educate people, fired a couple “who did not share the values.” And it’s good if hymns are not sung and chants are not shouted... And the result? Either it is not visible, or it was achieved not at all due to the fact that the values ​​somehow changed, but because the screws were tightened and they also threatened with dismissal.

Russian business, like Russian reality, upon deep study, is very reminiscent of a cargo cult (from the English cargo cult - “worship of cargo.” In cargo cults, the inhabitants of Melanesia performed rituals similar to the actions of white people, in anticipation of a similar effect: the arrival of a plane with cargo, etc. In other words, cargo cult is copying external manifestations and rituals in the hope of repeating the effect caused by other reasons). In Russia, certain democratic institutions are blindly copied in the expectation that our lives will change. Without creating a system that allows these institutions to work. Managerial theories are also copied - without understanding their inner essence, in the expectation that this will somehow help. For example, consider the value system of one company, taken from its corporate website. Let’s skip the usual chatter about leadership and “the customer is our king.” So, the website contains the following values ​​(given with abbreviated descriptions).

High quality products.

Impeccable service.

The company's customer focus.

Responsibility.

Openness.

Constant development.

Teamwork.

Confidence.

Honesty.

Ethicality.

Common standards of communication. Politeness to each other.

Equality of opportunity. Democratic.

Respect for private property rights.

Caring.

Initiative, creativity.

Speed ​​in everything and simplifying everything that can be simplified.

Constantly change and change everything around.

Ambitious goals and achieving them.

Dress culture is business style.

Decency.

Perseverance in achieving goals.

Forethought and planning.

Commitment to high standards and the desire to improve them in communication and business.

Professionalism.

Productivity.

Hard work.

Optimism.

Loyalty and patriotism.

Global thinking.

Professional and personal development.

Clean tables. Order in your head means order in everything.

Punctuality.

A smile is our constant mood at work.

Some of the above 33 values ​​contradict each other (speed and quality), some duplicate each other (order and punctuality), others are unclear (constantly change), and some are simply meaningless in the context of the company’s work (caring). There is no other way to call it madness. The only reassuring thing is that, most likely, no one is involved in introducing such madness in the company, otherwise its office would turn into a kind of hybrid of a mental hospital and a totalitarian sect. Why is such verbiage posted on the company’s website and, perhaps, appears in corporate documents? There is no other way to explain this than as a cargo cult.

For comparison, we can cite the value system of the Disney company.

No cynicism.

Education of all-American values ​​and their promotion.

Creativity, dreams and imagination.

Fanatical attention to sequence and detail.

Preserving and managing the "magic" of Disney.

Agree, nothing superfluous on the one hand, and a clear understanding of how it should be, on the other. These values ​​can be seen in work at any level, tracked and controlled; adherence to these values ​​can be encouraged. And it is very easy to believe that such concepts really determine both the company’s activities in the market and the approach of each employee involved in creating the product. However, the Disney company exists enough for a long time, and these values ​​have already managed to take root in her life and have grown along with the company. In our organizations, which do not have a long history of following the chosen path, we need to start with the introduction of one single value, which will be the first step in the right direction - simple, understandable to employees and relevant to the company. Only then will it be possible to think through an adequate scheme for its implementation and see the effect.

Value: what comes first

However, another problem arises here: value is still too diverse a concept (for the development of the company as a whole it is one thing, for the staff - another, for the market - a third), which also complicates the search for the desired value and provokes the creation of awkward lists of values ​​containing mutually exclusive paragraphs. As a result, in the presence of all kinds of values, their influence tends to zero. If people do not understand the simplest things (and they cannot understand this because of the contradictory requirements), then the work will not be done quickly and efficiently, but “somehow, as it turns out.” Of course, the attitude towards the company will be appropriate, despite all the appeals about “friendliness”, “the king-client”, “social responsibility”, regular motivational trainings, strategic sessions and similar tricks.

So, when looking for value, the first step is to prioritize. What is primary for the company? Business first, of course. Therefore, the most important is the corporate value that determines the key difference between the company and its competitors. Based on it, it is already necessary to form the right guidelines for employees, giving the same corporate value to internal use. Accordingly, based on the chosen value, it is necessary to create a corporate brand so that it personifies this concept. When developing a strategy, it is also necessary to take into account this most important market benchmark, pursuing the goals of achieving and maintaining such a perception in the eyes of potential and actual consumers. In other words, all sorts of specialists in management, branding and even strategy will have to be pushed aside. Marketers should be in charge in this matter, especially since the search for corporate value from a marketing point of view is quite simple and understandable.

Corporate value in this context is, by and large, just an answer to the question “What are we?” Positioning answers the question “Who are we and what do we do?”, and value clarifies the company’s positioning by answering the question “How do we do it?” In the corporate market, there is little or no difference between the products offered by different companies. Of course, we can cite the example of global monopolists with exclusive developments that have no analogues. But for most companies, such examples are absurd. In the corporate market, the product itself is in most cases deeply secondary; you can always find a more or less exact analogue or substitute from competitors. There are often cases when the product of all participants in a particular market is simply identical due to standardization or other reasons.

Due to the described features of the corporate market, the emphasis shifts from selling a specific product to selling a company as a product, a brand with its own ideology and reputation, to building relationships, building trust in the right way. This all starts with making initial statements to the market about “who we are” and, more importantly, “what we are like”, and ends with retaining attracted customers by precisely meeting previous promises. In this context, corporate value is the core on which, like a skewer, communication, employee operating principles, and market goals are strung. In the corporate market, the main product is not the company’s product, since it can always be replaced, but trust, which is valued above all else (unless, of course, it is based only on dumping or illegal schemes). For large company the process of creating image and trust must also be streamlined.

Value: Search Engine

Let us repeat once again: there can be several values, of course, but it is better for it to be one concept. The simpler we formulate corporate value, the easier it will be to convey it to all participants in the process (from employees to clients), the more understandable it will be, so we strongly advise you to throw away those corporate values ​​that you have already found or identified. Much can be complicated, but strength lies in simplicity and clarity.

Now comes the question of the value search space. So, on the one hand, values ​​should determine the characteristics of the company itself. On the other hand, these values ​​must be adequate to the market and be a beacon for clients, real or potential. From here we derived our principle of searching for corporate value for the company’s brand.

1. In every corporate market, several selection factors are relevant. The default is, of course, price and quality. But here we also add terms, service, credit conditions, level of knowledge, company size, response speed, availability of customer reviews and a number of other factors. This list needs to be tailored to your market (the set of factors influencing your choice is generally similar, but each market has its own nuances). These factors are the values ​​that are important for a potential or actual client, from which you will have to choose. As you can see, you need to work only with what may be important for a client or partner, and not use abstract concepts, nothing speaking to participants market.

2. You need to arrange these factors on a radial diagram and place all the main competitors in it, and then find a place for your company, if possible assessing the situation critically and adequately, without sectarian pressure on yourself and your loved ones. Of course, as with other marketing activities, research is always advisable and can lead to a more realistic answer to the question at hand.

3. Now you can look at this picture and ask yourself a number of questions.

A. What are we best at? If there is an answer - the value has been determined, we can congratulate you. If the situation is such that you are no better than your competitors, then move on to the next question.

B. What can we be better at? If the prerequisites are there, you again have corporate value and a guide to the future. If you can't be the best, then the next question will give you hope.

C. What do we want to be the best at? You are no better than others and you cannot simply defeat others. Based on a study of customer requests, you can identify potential priorities and choose the one that is most accessible to you. Now you at least have a goal that is relevant to the market and understandable to you. There is something to do, something to strive for.

Fig: example of competitor market analysis by values

Having identified your key advantages, you need to convey them to all people who in one way or another “consume” the company - clients, employees, management. The selected corporate value must be translated into the language of departments and areas so that everyone understands their guidelines. For the market, for example, price is important, and for a company, cost savings are important (and this cost savings is one thing for a warehouse, another for a sales department, and another for a service department). After this, you need to convey these corporate value options to all employees (outreach component), streamline market supply(marketing component), create a certain image of the company (branding component), establish a feedback system and introduce new principles of employee motivation that encourage changes in the right direction (motivational component). Only then can you control the situation, manage it and get truly working corporate values. It is obvious that the implementation of even one corporate value is a rather difficult process, during which a lot will have to change in the company itself. And this complexity once again proves that the “gurus” and the managers themselves, voicing sets of values, simply do not know what they are doing.

This article, I would like to believe, not only helps to understand mistakes. We hope that it provides a foothold, with which you can turn the Earth upside down or at least take the first step, after which, acting purposefully, logically and consistently, making every effort, maintain and improve the situation by all means and means. Then advertising will become not empty proclamations, but fair and truthful statements, value management will not be a mockery of employees, but a clear guideline with its own incentives, and branding will not be lengthy verbiage, but a means of managing the company’s image in the eyes of all stakeholders. Otherwise, we do not see a single piece of evidence that there is anything worthwhile in all these corporate values.

Value as an interdisciplinary concept. Experience in multidimensional reconstruction / D.A. Leontiev / Questions of philosophy. - 1996, No. 4.